f The Bugbytes: May 2011

Welcome - Copyright & Disclaimer

Welcome to The Bug Bytes a site/blog mainly for Papercrafting and some photography and other stuff thrown in here & there. Add in some die cutting machine, scrapbooking tools, cameras, scissors , glue and...... My name is Pam. If you have been redirected from Papillon Digital Design you have come to the right place.Hope you get inspired by the projects, videos and files. Would love it if you could leave comments and become a follower. (Word verification is turned ON to avoid spam. Sorry for that inconvenience.) Would love it if you would also share your project here . If you find a linky under the post do share your project by posting link there or if you do not find a linky post your link in the comments.Thank you for visiting. The website Papillon digital designs has changed to Papillon Digital Design so if the link gives and error or takes you to page with chinese characters then please drop the 's' in the link at the end of papillondigitaldesigns and try . That is change papillondigitaldesigns to papillondigitaldesign and try the link.

May 31, 2011

Blob brush in illustrator CS5

I am so loving this blob brush in illustrator CS5. It came in cs4 and I so love this feature along with the multiple artboards. So totally worth upgrading to cs5. I am of course learning and  love the tutorials by Deke McClelland - lynda.com and also Laura Coyle - reneepearson.com. Both are such great instructors.
Especially with the new cutter when I try to convert dover jpg images from the cd to cuttable files - svg - just trace - expand and if there are open gaps or very thin lines - use the blob tool. (I usually trace while choosing the tracing options set with white not chosen)
I have the knk but remember in Ai to svg you need the fill set to color while the stroke should be 0 pts. So I alternate between the two while correcting and when I am happy I make most usually compound paths out of it - make sure the fill is set and the stroke is set to (no stroke) or 0 pt.

I just thought I would add some pictures to show what I was talking about. Here's the picture of a traced ai file. Note how the image is broken in some places of stem. So if I need to join I can manipulate the nodes in knk studio or older illustrator.




But if with cs5 it makes it so easy



So after using the blob brush and connecting I make sure I drop down or twirl open the layer and choose the particular layer I want which is the completed image




I then move the layer to a new layer (not necessary to do this way you can directly delete all the other layers but I like to do it this way) and then delete the other layer




After that I select the image and make a compound path




And then I make sure I fill it with color and set the stroke to none



In the beginning after tracing I usually like to set the artboard to 12 in by 12 inch. After all this I save the file as both ai and svg. Then I sometimes take it to either knk studio or MTC and play with it there like adding a card welding etc

for eg this is a  image I traced from dover ornamental fixed it and saved as svg


Then I took it to knk and made this square card




So I hope these images helps someone a little


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It's Tuesday - A simple versatile card using the Cricut Imagine.

Hello everyone!  I'm Kris and I'm happy to be joining you on this wonderful Tuesday.  I have to say I am a proud owner of the Cricut Imagine since launch.  I have a new appreciation for this phenomenal machine every time I use it.

I recently purchased all three Snapshot cartridges and they are awesome!  For this card I'm using the Nature cartridge.  It has some fantastic images on it!

This card is pretty generic and you can use almost any sentiment on it from sympathy, thinking of you, birthday, mother's day, and more.

Let's get started!

To make this card you will need:

  • Paper - White,  light Pink, Pattern paper printed from Lori’s Garden (page 42 left pattern) and Snapshot – Nature Imagine cartridges wild flowers (page 9)
  • Punches - Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly, Stampin’ Up – Word Window Punch & Modern Label Punch
  • Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Worn Lipstick
  • Tim Holtz Damask embossing Folder
  • Stampin’ Up – Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
  • Seam Binding in Light Blue
  • WR Memory Keepers Corner Rounder
  • Pop Dots
  • Glue Dots
  • Tape Adhesive
  • Cuttlebug, Sizzix Big Shot, Vagabond, or other embossing machine

 To get started, print and cut your pattern paper on your Cricut Imagine.  I used the proportional rectangles found in the stock images on your Imagine.  Select the 5:7, set the size to 5.  This will give you a 5 x 7 finished rectangle.  Flood fill this with the image on page 9 of the Snapshot:Nature cartridge.  You will be cutting this image down to it's final size of 3" x 4".
[If you don't understand the proportional rectangles or how to use them, I have explained them in detail on my blog.  Click here to go directly to the post.]
Insert the Lori's Garden cartridge and select the 2:3 rectangle on the stock images.  Set the size to 2 and flood fill with the image on page 42, left hand side.  This will be used for the Butterfly and Sentiment.
Trim the flower pattern paper to it's final size of 3" x 4".  You can use this size image to make 2 cards.  I used the left side of the image for my card.  Round the corners with the 1/4" side of the corner rounder. 
Cut a piece of light pink paper 3 1/8" x 4 1/8" and round the corners using the 1/4" side of the corner rounder.  Adhere the pattern paper to the pink and set aside.

Stamp your sentiment in Worn Lipstick and punch out using the word window punch. 



Adhere this piece to your pattern paper first


Then punch out with the modern label punch.
This way you aren't fighting to get that little piece of paper perfectly centered on the modern label!
Add pearls to the ends.



Punch the butterfly from the pattern paper from Lori's Garden.



Using the Tim Holtz Damask embossing folder, emboss the front of the card base.



 Everything is ready for assembly.

Adhere the flower pattern paper to the top center of the card. 
You want this towards the top so the sentiment fits below.



Roll a glue dot to form a barrel shape and apply to the body only of the butterfly. 
Adhere to the top right corner of the flower image and carefully bend the wings to add dimension.

Add seam binding to the fold side of the card and tie a bow at the lower edge of the card.
Add the sentiment using pop dots below the flower image.



The finished project.  These are very easy to do and take almost no time to complete.  

Hope you enjoyed!

May 28, 2011

Beautiful You

I am so loving doing layouts now.
This weekends circle challenge by AllisonF was using a kit you have.
Lol no problem using a kit as everything is arranged but the biggest problem was cutiing something with cricut as almost everything was already there in the kit I had. So I just used Gypsy wanderings to choose a square solid frame. But had a tough time moving the image off the mat as you know when the image hangs out on two sides out of the mat it sort of hits the barrier and refuses to move and behaves wacky. Starnger since the last update one left to right can be nudged a little by arrows. I had to juggle between using the 12 x 24 mat place and adjust as then only one side will go off the mat and then 12 x 12. I finally cut the blue paper that way . Then the brown paper for the title and the notes was cut with Imagine more. I had to do some inventive adjusting in the title as wonderful was one element, beautiful one element and authentic another in that kit. The borders both of them were chipboard borders in the kit.
Woo I love kits as assembling them is so easy. Maybe it's a quick way I can do lots of pages. Well what's a page without bling so I had to add some buttons (again in the kits ) and pearls (not in the kit). The background paper was DCWV pastels as unfortunatley the kit only had pattern paper and no thick cardstock. The blue patterned photo mat was also not part of the kit



Since I felt there was not enough journaling spots I added the photomat onto the layout with pop darts so that I could slip a journaling note under it. Paper used for the note was left over from the you're my sunshine layout.



A close up of the title



Well that's my quick layout for today. It just took me about 15 mins to think, cut and paste. Maybe I should get more kits! Don't even know for how long I have had this one. Maybe I should just dig out and see if I have other kits tucked in somewhere first :)

Happy long crafty weekend!

May 26, 2011

Immortal Love Altered Tin

Hi! Its me Lisa from The Cuttle Fairies Express, today I will be altering a tin from Stampin Up using paper from the Immortal Love paper stack.
I really had no idea what I should post today... But this project just popped into my head....


I just fell in love with this paper as soon as it was released!!! (Yes I am a Twilight fan!) I wanted to do something different other then a card or altered notebook, which I have been doing a lot of lately.

So this is what I came up with.




I just love the red and black! Which also matches my craft room! By far my favorite colors! The flower where is a black zipper flower, the red flower is a Tim Holtz style mini flower... if I had more time I would have dipped it into UTEE, then I added a red and black feather.







I finished it with Prima bling (colored red with a Copic marker) and the a metal heart embellishment. I also but pearl Glimmer mist on both the front and back of the tin to give it more sparkle.



Thanks Pam for giving me this chance to be a guest designer, and thank you to everyone is taking time to look at this post. I just loved the way it came out!

May 24, 2011

You're my Sonshine

Good Morning!
This is Pam today with a layout.
I have recently started liking layouts and for the very first time decided to make my own sketch and play. I have never followed a sketch before in all the 4 - 6 layouts I made and just went as my brain dictated. But I decided that this time I would make a sketch to follow.  I did change many elements but for the most part stuck to it. I am quite happy with the way the sketch and the layout turned out.
Here's a simple sketch I made

And the layout




I have used cartridge baby steps and the title is from Calligraphy collections and Plantin school book. Oval is from George and the labels are  from Lacey labels lite. The paper ribbon is from MS elegant cake welded repeatedly.  The pattern paper on left is from K&Company and the right one - the blue dotted one is from my mind's eye.It is so shiny and lovely! The solid papers - yellow, orange and blue are from DCWV and the green bits are from pack papers I got from Michaels (it was all pastel shades cut in different sizes and stacked up for 3 dollars)
Now I felt the embellishments - babies and the bowl cup and even the title was too small to cut properly as title was about 0.8 - 0.9 inches.  Even though the baby is big the layers was too small to piece. So I wanted to use markers and color them in. So I added the images for marker on one page in the Gypsy and in the 2nd page I added the cutting part. In case of baby- I added the image and used hide and contour to hide the cheeks. In case of cups and bowl I added all layers as a group and then used hide and contour to get rid of portions I didn't need and then placed everything one on top of another to form a whole image. Then on next page I placed the image for cut. Turn on the preview of previous page and you can also note down the x and y and use that  to manually place it after zooming to max. So you first put in marker (remember to protect you drawing area while changing marker and blade) and cut. Then DO NOT UNLOAD but RETURN TO DESIGN. Then change your marker for blade and then go to the next page and cut. Same thing for title though in this case I just placed a label shape on the 2nd page.

Here are some close ups





For the writing for tabs it is my handwriting but I had previously used fontifier and made a font out of my handwriting. I sized it in photoshop to about 10 points instead of 12 as I wanted the sentence to be about 2 1/2 - 3 inches long only . You can of course use word but I like photoshop . I then printed it out and cut it and glued it on to a green cardstock strip and glued it on.  Then I colored the pieces . Assembled the layout and added some brads and used some twine and that's a one page layout done :)
Thank you  for reading. I would love to read your sweet comments so do leave some.
 Have a great week!
Pam

You're my Sonshine

Good Morning!
This is Pam today with a layout.
I have recently started liking layouts and for the very first time decided to make my own sketch and play. I have never followed a sketch before in all the 4 - 6 layouts I made and just went as my brain dictated. But I decided that this time I would make a sketch to follow. I did change some elements but for the most part stuck to it. I am quite happy with the way the sketch and the layout turned out.
Here's a simple sketch I made

And the layout




I have used cartridge baby steps and the title is from Calligraphy collections and Plantin school book. Oval is from George and the labels are  from Lacey labels lite. The paper ribbon is from MS elegant cake welded repeatedly.  The pattern paper on left is from K&Company and the right one - the blue dotted one is from my mind's eye.It is so shiny and lovely! The solid papers - yellow, orange and blue are from DCWV and the green bits are from pack papers I got from Michaels (it was all pastel shades cut in different sizes and stacked up for 3 dollars)
Now I felt the embellishments - babies and the bowl cup and even the title was too small to cut properly as title was about 0.8 - 0.9 inches.  Even though the baby is big the layers was too small to piece. So I wanted to use markers and color them in. So I added the images for marker on one page in the Gypsy and in the 2nd page I added the cutting part. In case of baby- I added the image and used hide and contour to hide the cheeks. In case of cups and bowl I added all layers as a group and then used hide and contour to get rid of portions I didn't need and then placed everything one on top of another to form a whole image. Then on next page I placed the image for cut. Turn on the preview of previous page and you can also note down the x and y and use that  to manually place it after zooming to max. So you first put in marker (remember to protect you drawing area while changing marker and blade) and cut. Then DO NOT UNLOAD but RETURN TO DESIGN. Then change your marker for blade and then go to the next page and cut. Same thing for title though in this case I just placed a label shape on the 2nd page.

Here are some close ups





For the writing for tabs it is my handwriting but I had previously used fontifier and made a font out of my handwriting. I sized it in photoshop to about 10 points instead of 12 as I wanted the sentence to be about 2 1/2 - 3 inches long only . You can of course use word but I like photoshop . I then printed it out and cut it and glued it on to a green cardstock strip and glued it on.  Then I colored the pieces . Assembled the layout and added some brads and used some twine and that's a one page layout done :)
Thank you  for reading. I would love to read your sweet comments so do leave some.
 Have a great week!
Pam

May 22, 2011

All the tools

I finally got the pazzles distressing tool so now I have all the tools I want to play  - for knk - punch (knk), embossing (pazzles), engraving (cougar and knk )
But first I have to calibrate both the general and the laser so that I can start playing seriously.
The mat had to be deglued. I had to use googone to strip if of glue and then use aleene tacky over diluted to apply. It is now ready and hopefully this time the paper wil not stick so much. Krylon was a bad idea.
Zig or tacky is the way to go.

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May 20, 2011

"IMAGINE IT", "CREATE IT" POLYMER CLAY HOME DECOR PROJECT

Hello everyone, it's Audrey again from http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com/, and thank you Pam for having me back!  Wow, just see what I've prepared for you today!  It's really a very long tutorial but that's because I'm taking you step-by-step what I did, but it's really easy.

This project is just as the name implies as I actually imagined and created it as I was doing it.  I've never really worked with clay before so I wanted to play around with it to see what I could come up with.  I didn't have time to put together a cut-file project and couldn't think of any paper craft, so I decided you'd have to bear with me on this trial project; however, I love the results and I think you will too.  Now don't worry, it really is very easy.  And trust me, if I can do this, you can too.  Here is my completed home decor project:


I have no clay tools at all, so I used common items to complete this project entirely from scratch -- NO CLAY TOOLS!!!  This really is a picture heavy tutorial so let's get started.

Materials I used:
  • Sculpey Oven Bake Clay
  • Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments
  • Large Background Stamp
  • Cherub ornament shown below used for mold and molded item ( I found this on sale for $1 at Walmart)
  • Item used for frame/cutting (I used one of Buster's empty dog food plastic containers shown below to outline my frame because I liked the octagon shape and the scallop cookie cutter for my molded cherub shape; however, cookie cutters, die cuts or actual shape cutters can be used)
  • Plastic bottle or rolling pin ( I used my Crafters Pick Ultimate Glue bottle)
  • Mister (containing water)
  • Plastic knife
  • Small paint brush
  • Drinking Straw
  • Spatula



















NOTE:  Before I began I had ready a sheet of freezer paper covering a small baking sheet to hold my clay mold and clay items which were going into the oven to be baked.

I began by making the mold for the cherub by taking a thick chunk of clay as tall as the cherub and a bit wider around than the cherub:

Using the bottle of glue as a rolling pin I smoothed out the top of the clay and misted it with water before firmly pressing the cherub into the clay (some people use talc to keep the clay from sticking but I found water worked best for me):


After pressing the ornament into the clay, I carefully removed the cherub from the clay mold by gently lifting it along the edges of the clay lifting it out.  Here's what the mold looked like:


I placed the mold on the freezer wrap lined pan and baked it for 20 minutes at 275 degrees (always check time/temperature on clay package); I let clay cool about 30 minutes.

Once the mold was cool,  I took a chunk of clay and flattened it out large enough to fit over the depressed image in the mold  (this piece of clay should be just thick enough to not punch a hole into when pressing into it with your fingers):

Again I smoothed out the top of the clay chunk and mited the mold before placing the clay on top of the mold:

Very gently and carefully so as not to tear the clay -- but firmly -- I pressed the clay into the mold using my fingers and thumbs to get a good impression:


Lifting from around the edges (the same as with the cherub) I removed the clay and here's the impression I got from the mold:


NOTE:  Because I did this as I went along, as an afterthought I used the scallop shape cookie cutter (shown in the picture above of the materials I used) to cut away the excess clay around the edges of the cherub image so it didn't look so rough; because it was a last minute decision I didn't get a picture of it -- sorry.  However, all you need to do is press the cookie cutter into the clay just as you would cookie dough.  You'll see on a following picture what it will look like with the edges scalloped.  Hey, I did say this was a trial project!!!  LOL!

Moving on, I took another chunk of clay enough for my frame (the plaster container); again smoothing, flattening (to about the thickness of a nickel), and wetting the top of the clay; I laid the container on top of this piece of clay and pressed down firmly:


Using the plastic knife I carefully sliced away the extra/excess clay from around the image of the frame:


Here's the impression I had once I'd sliced away the unnecessary additional clay:


I then took my background stamp (I've colored the stamp so you'll be able to see the impression), misted it and placed it on top of the clay frame pressing down gently but firmly to get a good impression on the clay:


Now the fun really began for me!  Using the spatula I carefully lifted the cherub image and centered it on the frame.  Using the end of the paint brush I punched holes into each scallop for decoration and used the straw to punch a hole where I was going to string a tassel:


Using several colors of pigment powders as paint, I started painting the clay until I achieved a color I liked:




Using the spatula I carefully lifted my image/frame and placed it on the freezer paper on the pan, then baked it at 275 degrees for 20 minutes.

Once the clay image had cooled, I decided rub black ink around the edges and to use my index finger to spread some gold Stickles all over the image completely covering it and allowing it to dry.  This is what it looked like:


This is actually the finished piece!!!  Now of course you've noticed I didn't put a tassel through the hole at the bottom as I'd planned; again, as an afterthought, I changed my mind and decided to glue a wire holder for the computer generated words "Imagine" and "Create" before placing the image into the wooden frame.  If you'd like to know how I did the wire, it was easy.  I cut off a piece of 20 guage wire about 4 inches long; using round nose pliers I held the pliers with my palm and fingers facing up before grabbing the very tip end of the wire with the pliers:


Slowly turning my wrist I curled the wire until the tip end and the length of the wire were touching:


At this point, afrer curling the other end with the pliers,  I could take the loops between my thumb and  index finger to continue curling, bending and/or manipulating the wire until I got the shape I desired.  That's it!!!

Now I really have no experience at all working with clay and this really is my first completed clay project, so like I said if I can do this on a first try, you can too.  Clay doesn't have to be hard or intimidating -- jusr play with it!  Anyway, I hope you like this and are inspired to try doing one yourself!  And don't forget to let me see how your's came out!

Thanks for stopping by and...

I'll be seeing you!